If you know me (or read this blog at all regularly), you know I love the show, ‘House M.D.’  I am also an unabashed fan of the star of that show, Hugh Laurie.  His comedic work in ‘A Bit of Fry and Laurie’ and ‘Blackadder’ as well as his novel “The Gun Seller” (which I have been personally responsible for selling dozens of copies of in my time as a bookseller) are just a few more of the reasons why I am a fan of this multi-talented man.

He’s also a versatile musician and happens to tour with a band of fellow TV actors known as Band From TV, a for-charity group that plays concerts of cover songs across the country.  Today, they played here at the Taste of Chicago for a free show and I went with the intention of getting Hugh Laurie’s autograph and a picture with him if possible.  Spoiler alert, I failed on both counts.

But that doesn’t mean I didn’t get close.  In fact, I did get the autograph of Jesse “Dr. Chase” Spencer (the other heartthrob from House) and I managed to get up close and personal, enough so for me to tell that doling out autographs was not Hugh’s cup of tea (a roadie explained that Hugh is ‘shy;’ maybe he is, or maybe he just doesn’t enjoy being barraged by fans.  Either way, I can understand).

All the same, I got some pretty good shots (minus one close-up of Jesse that the ladies would have loved, but that I somehow managed to delete).  In another post I’ll add the pictures of the Bible-Thumpers who were out spewing God’s Hate.  It was a well-rounded day.

Here are shots of the Band From TV performing (mostly Hugh and Jesse, though):

After the show, I made some unsuccessful attempts at getting Hugh’s autograph (or a photo with him).  Hugh was about to disappear on the band’s tour bus (literally, a double-decker tour bus), but a group of überfans held up signs pleading for an autograph, using altered lyrics from “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”.  It was a brilliant move.  Alas, while I was able to get some good shots out of it, I was not personally bestowed permission to take a photo with him.  Major bummer.

If nothing else, this shot makes me pretty happy:

Hugh Laurie, rocking the Grateful Dead shirt and looking positively House-ish.

It was a pretty good day.